← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · South Dakota
Our call — vote YES
The measure
Constitutional Amendment K is a legislatively referred constitutional amendment (Senate Joint Resolution 505), which passed the Senate 35-0 and the House 69-0. It would establish an unclaimed property trust fund: the state treasurer deposits unclaimed property funds into the trust after covering claims, authorized expenses, and designated general-fund deposits, and beginning in July 2027 distributes a portion of the trust's interest and income to the general fund each year — neither the interest and income nor the principal may be diverted beyond what the amendment provides. In 2024 the state took in about $175 million in unclaimed property and paid out $38 million in claims (SDGOP ballot guide).
What YES does
A YES vote puts unclaimed property — other people's money the state holds — into a permanent trust that protects owners' claims and pays the general fund only a portion of earnings, ending the practice of treating the principal as ordinary revenue (the state currently relies on roughly $60-65 million a year of it, per Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen's statement reported by Ballotpedia News).
What NO does
A NO vote leaves unclaimed property flowing as current law provides, available as an ongoing revenue source, with owners' claims paid from that flow.
The math
No new tax or spending is created. The fiscal effect is discipline: principal is preserved, and the general fund receives a portion of interest and income annually from July 2027, on a planned transition that ramps down the current $60-65 million annual reliance rather than blowing a hole in one budget year.
OUR CALL
Our call: YES.
Unclaimed property is not tax revenue; it is citizens' money in the state's custody, and the state has spent sums it still owes the rightful owners. A permanent trust that can always pay claims, and pays the budget only from earnings, is stewardship instead of spendthrift habit. Unanimous in both chambers, and rightly so.
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Sources: Ballotpedia News, South Dakota voters to decide amendment establishing trust fund for unclaimed property (Mar. 10, 2025); South Dakota Attorney General ballot explanation for Amendment K (2026).
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.